Saturday, July 1, 2017

SpinTunes #13: Round 1 Challenge

Death Star: Write a tribute to your favorite deceased celebrity. You must allude to your celebrity without using his or her name in the title or the lyrics. Include the celebrity's name in the submission email, along with your lyrics.

Example: “Black Velvet” by Christopher Ward and David Tyson, recorded by Alannah Myles. Example of failure: “Candle in the Wind” by Elton John & Bernie Taupin.

Submitting Entries:

Your entry must be received by July 9, 2017 @ 11:59 PM EDT. Otherwise it'll be posted as a shadow. Received means that it has to appear in my e-mail inbox (spintunescontest@gmail.com) by the given deadline. I will be going by the time stamp on the e-mail. One minute late is too late.

You are allowed and encouraged to submit a draft of your song early just in case something horrible happens and you miss the deadline. Then you can add polish to your song and send in a better version closer to the deadline. The last version received prior to the deadline is your official entry.

Lyrics are mandatory. No instrumentals. Having no lyrics will get you disqualified.

Name your file the song's title, but without spaces & punctuation.

Title of the e-mail should be the title of the Challenge & your band's name. (e.g. "Death Star - Dr Lindyke")

Include information on anyone that needs credited if you collabed with someone. Remember, collaborations are OK. You must write your song, but if you want to use another vocalist or musicians, do so.

If you have a BandCamp account, you can just send me a link to your song on BandCamp if you include all the info I mentioned above. Make sure you have it set as a free download. THIS IS THE BEST FILE SHARING OPTION!

Other file sharing options if you need them: Sound Cloud (set to download a format BandCamp is ok with) & Drop Box. Please send an e-mail as I already stated, but with the download link if you need one of these services.

If you're using something other than Bandcamp, It's best if you send your file in a format that Bandcamp accepts (.aiff, .wav or .flac, at least 16-bit/44.1kHz) You can find the specific requirements for Bandcamp files HERE.

If you send me an MP3, I will attempt to convert it for you. But be warned... I will be strapped for time, and I will post whatever Audacity spits out of the conversion. So if you picked the wrong sample rate, your dulcet tones may wind up sounding like termites or chipmunks or random static. And that is what will be judged. So please... save and submit your files in the right format.

Side Notes:

You are allowed to send in a little background about your song. We encourage and appreciate "song bios". You don't have to do it, but if you want to write a couple sentences about your song I'll post it on the BandCamp page for people to see. I'll even link to longer blog posts if you want to explain your song on your blog. Some judges will read this extra info, but they aren't required to.

If you didn't sign-up in time to compete in SpinTunes 13, you can still complete the challenge and send in a song. It will be uploaded with the other entries as a "Shadow Song" and it will be played at the listening party. Check the FAQ if you don't know what that means. You can even complete past challenges from previous contests.

The only other way to get your music played at the LP is to cover "Today's The Day" by Inverse T. Clown.